2021 Patriot Half RR -
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/6986980739/1
This is my second HIM
TLDR - Very windy to start the day. Super rough swim, I got pushed around. Bike headwind for what felt like 40 miles. Run was waaaaay to hot, prolly 90+ in the sun. Pretty unhappy with the race and my racing of it. Not sure I would due this one again.
Swim - Out to the first turn was OK. I was feeling pretty good and not getting passed. Made the first left and waves started hitting me. Like a ####### tsunami. The waves were coming from the shore out to the middle of the lake so that was messed up. It kept pushing me to my right, out to the ocean ... I mean middle of the lake. Gulp after gulp of water. I was really not enjoying myself. Worst part was the swim leg was my supposed strength
. Let me add that Ive raced in the ocean and that was much more enjoyable than this trainwreck. What truly frustrated me was that sighting is a strength of mine in the water and I couldnt keep my bearings due to the wind. I swam so much extra my watch had my pace at 1:46/100 and the official results had me at 1:52/100. Worst part is I knew it and there was nothign I could do about it during the race
. 2 min lost due to sighting
T1 and T2 - I took my time on the transitions. I was in no rush. I hadnt raced in a while so I didnt wan to make a mistake. Had I halfed my T times I could have saved 3:30 per for a total of 7 min.
Bike - Im not good on the bike, what can I say? I knew that but the disappointing part was that I thought I had made improvements since my IM. It sure didnt feel like it. My HR was much higher than my HIM in 2018 (here:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2965305737) and my results were about the same. I dont know for sure if it was elevation as my stupid watch altimeter seemed to go kerplunk today
. I did have a couple run-ins with ####### cyclists.
Triathletes are by far the worst sportsman in the world. Hands down the most selfish and self-serving. It frustrates me a lot. On the bike a good portion of it had a significant head wind. At a couple of turns it became a side wind. I had never been blown around like that before. In the end I had the 5th worst bike. Had I been Middle Of the Pack I would have saved ~15min. I got a long way to go to be MOP. The best part of my bike, even today, was my
flying dismount. I continue to get Oooohs and Ahhhhs from everyone.
Run - What happened to my run? Yes it was hot, but 10:30 pace? Cmon. Dont ever take off 4 months of running for achilles tendinosis. The amount of time to come back is brutal. I felt so weak on the run it was very very sad. My Old Prchard Beach HIM run was an 8:51 pace. Today 10:30. I know I cant beat myself up over it (too late), but it a tough pill to swallow. Getting back to the race, it was super hot. In the sun it had to be way north of 90. Once we hit like mile 3 all of those mad awesome cyclists started dropping like flies. Lots started walking and I said to myself if I do one thing today would be no walking. Come mile 6-7, I started counting the kills. I dropping 6 or 7 from my age group alone. I did get passed by a few people, but overall no one was overtaking me on the run cause my bike was so bad
. Whats sad is I suffered, like I wanted to walk suffer. It really must have been the heat as lots of folks gave in. Had I not passed those folks my day would have been a complete disaster with the poor bike and I could have finished like last 5 in my AG. My other HIM was a 1:56 time with today it taking me 2:15. Thats a 20 min difference those non-mathers. Lets say I could even have split the difference of those times I could have saved 10 minutes.
If I counted up my could-haves and should-haves - 34 total minutes of reasonable time had I not sucked. That 34 minutes in savings would have moved me up 6 spots. That would have put me in 21st instead of 27th. HAHAHAHHAHA ... big ####### deal!! lol
Time to heal. Left knee is really unhappy. Stiff as a board, my strength workouts dont feel like they helped at all. Such a sad state im in.